Tinnitus from Allergies? And ETD?

[tyjkramer]

So the past two weeks have been a nightmare for me.

I live in Michigan and was visiting Florida for my college orientation. I developed really bad contact dermatitis before leaving, so the trip was miserable.

To make things even worse, 24 hours after my flight, I developed a ringing in my ear. I had been to a few concerts before so I thought I must've heard something loud that day, went to bed and ignored it. Unfortunately, I am going on week two of this and it is miserable. I went to an ENT a few days after it started. All he said was to take Lipoflavonoids, and he did a hearing test (hearing came back normal). So he was not very helpful.

Almost two weeks later, I went to another ENT that my PCP recommended.

She said that the tinnitus usually goes away, but there's a possibility it could stay. (She has had it since she was 16). Both ENTs ignored the entire plane situation, and they ignored the fact that my ears have to keep being popped, everytime I swallow my ears click, and there's fullness in them.

ENT #2 briefly mentioned my Eustachian tubes causing the sounds, but did not really go into detail. I've been reading up on this online and it says that the ringing could be caused by swollen Eustachian tubes due to allergies (which ENT #2 said I had very bad) and could be made worse by a plane ride if they were bad.

Any advice on anything? I am seeing an allergist tomorrow to see what he may think.

 

[Deamon22]

Did your ENTs prescribe you some nasal spray? I had basically the same (T after cold with probably blocked ET) and used some nasal spray. However now, 2 months later, it still is there, although i often experience periods of silence ( like right now, where i don't even hear it with plugged ears in a silent room). But i know it will come back.

So what i would do is let an ENT check if the tubes are working, use nasal sprays ecc. and protect your ears just to be sure.

2 weeks is not much time. Also, as far as i know, i think crackling ears while swallowing is kind of normal. Maybe you just never noticed it before.

 

[tyjkramer]

She told me to use Flonase and aim towards the ears (which i dont really understand how to do). I was going to wait though for the allergist because they're apparently addictive

 

[Deamon22]

At 9:20 he explains how to use the nasal spray correctly. However i never really did the valsalva after the spray like he is showing, since that always felt like to much pressure on my ears.

In this link you can read the same thing.
https://www.fauquierent.net/etd2.htm

Did you notice any change in your T yet? Or is it always the same?

On the packaging of the spray there should also be written for how many days you should use the spray.

 

[tyjkramer]

My T was super bad the first week. The second week I went on a vacation and it seemed to get better. The ENT did a brain stem response test for an acoustic neuroma and since then it has gotten a little worse. I am just confused about everything going on. This all started after the flight and it seems to me that no one thinks that could've triggered ETD

 

[glynis]

If it's due to allergies try an antihistamine along with a nasil spray and keep it up as takes a while to settle down your tubes.
I have lot's of allergies and sever asthmatic.
love glynis

 

[tyjkramer]

i tried an antihistamine a couple times and didn't seem to do much but make me drowsy :/

 

[Deamon22]

It's hard to say what happend. If you read some of the storys here regarding ETD you'll see that it takes a long time for the T to settle. I still dont know what caused mine.

However, if i were you, i would continue using the spray as the ENT said, and just to be sure, protect my ears to not aggravate my ears further. With time you will see it gets better.

 

[tyjkramer]

Thank you! Hopefully the allergist can offer some insight as well... fingers crossed. Might ask for a camera to see if anything is wrong in the nose or tubes

 

[Deamon22]

I also had a doc look with a camera in my nose, but there you see just the sinuses. ET as far as i know is a procedure with anesthesia.

 

[Frédéric]

Role of Allergy in Eustachian Tube Dysfunction

Purpose of Review
Eustachian tube dysfunction (ETD) presents with symptoms of aural fullness and pressure, muffled hearing, tinnitus, and otalgia. When severe, it can lead to many common ear disorders such as otitis media with effusion, tympanic membrane retraction/perforation, and cholesteatoma. These diseases are prevalent in both the pediatric and adult population and significantly impact quality of life. The pathophysiology of ETD in the absence of an obstructive lesion has long been debated but is thought to be related to functional obstruction (i.e., inefficient tensor veli palatini muscle) and/or nasal cavity and nasopharyngeal inflammation. In the acute setting, the most common cause of nasal inflammation is an upper respiratory infection. When symptoms become chronic, however, the inflammation is thought to be associated with nasal irritants such as nasal allergens, i.e., allergic rhinitis (AR). The purpose of this review is to summarize our current understanding of the relationship between allergy and ETD.

Recent Findings
Past studies are either lacking or have reported equivocal findings regarding the relationship between allergy and ETD, and the 2018 International Consensus Statement on Allergy and Rhinology: Allergic Rhinitis has deemed the current level of evidence linking AR and ETD as low quality. A more recent study using a large adult population dataset did support an association between AR and ETD, but did not find that all cases of ETD are related to allergies. Furthermore, current evidence suggests that the use of medications that can decrease intranasal inflammation, such as intranasal corticosteroids or oral antihistamines, does not result in significant symptomatic improvement in patients with ETD. However, these studies included all patients with ETD, and evidence is lacking regarding the treatment effect of these medications on the subset of patients with concurrent AR and ETD.

Summary
Current best evidence does support an association between AR and ETD; however, not all patients with ETD suffer from AR, and vice versa. Further research is necessary to understand the mechanism behind this positive association and to elucidate the cause of chronic ETD in patients without associated allergies.

Source and references: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11882-020-00951-3